I have several high end Japanese rods ($1,000 plus) and they all have super hard EVA grips. I think they are superior to cork. That is my own preference though and I am talking Saltwater rods not fly rods or delicate freshwater rods. Definitely cork for those...

My rods get a variety of grip materials, none are "low end". It just so happens that the very rod on my bench currently, has an EVA grip. It also has an acrylic insert on a Fuij skeleton paired with a blank painted to match. IMO, the black grips do MUCH more justice to the insert, the reel and the red blank. Although I haven't wrapped it yet, the guides are Alconite with Chrome frames, wrapped with nylon red with no CP- again staying with the silver/black/red theme.

There is a time and place for almost everything ... [www.rodbuilding.org]

Jim -

Swampland Tackle Lance Dupre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I use EVA on lots of my high end rods. As Mike
> stated lots of Japanese manufacturers use EVA on
> their rods and they sell for anywhere from 400.00
> up to 900.00 per rod. EVA DOES NOT make them look
> CHEAP. If you ask me they have a classier look,
> especially when aluminum trim rings are added. As
> a matter of fact I'm having some new EVA grips
> made that'll have the look of the high end
> Japanese JDM style rods.

On the website soon I hope???

There is a need for lots of grip material, wood, cork, EVA, graphite...the list goes on.

Alot comes down to personal preferance of the individual buying the custom rod. That is why it is called Custom.

Me I split the field, my casting rods have EVA, my spinning rods have cork, my fly rods have wood handles. Why? Cause that is the way I wanted it.

As said earlier, Billy V. makes some very cool extremely custom EVA grips. He pushes the boundry of custom EVA grips to the limit.

As much as I like using and playing with EVA grips, ther are several applications where I prefer cork for my own personal rods. I think EVA OR Cork just glud up with square edges and unsanded and dosnt' butt up to the components perfectly is cheap - price is negligibl, you can use $100 worth of cork imprperly and make the rod look cheap, and even worse feel cheap. SAme holds true for EVA, properly sanding/shaping it will allow the rod to look classy, like a true custom rod should look. The only thing that determines what metrial is used on the rod is the person using the rod. ultimately they are the ones who decide what is right.

PS - thanks to you guys for shouting me out on the Dec Grips, I apprecaite it.

i use EVA on most of my rods. i like the way it grips, how much it costs and how easy it is to shape/work with. When a customer asks me - i usually recommend a good quality EVA over cork for those reasons. Its usually an easy sell when i can them 20$ on the just the grips. i'm very pleased with how they turn out.

Regards,
-Justin

I, like Justin , use EVA on almost all of the Bass Rods I build. I use the hard EVA split grips with the Silver trim rings from Swampland Tackle. The tournament fishermen I build for wouldn't have anything else, they love them. When building a Spinning Rod I will use the regular EVA or cork , depends on what the person wants. If you haven't tried the hard EVA split grips from Swampland Tackle, you are missing out big time , in my opinion.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

EVA is perhaps the best all purpose grip material. You would be hard pressed to find any faults. I personally like medium density, I dont like the hard stuff.